Lance wonders, had he known what the consequences would've been, if he'd have made different choices.

There wasn't much anyone could've done, really. The information base was unguarded and an obvious choice for their next target. Not only that, but it was located on a water covered planet. Of course they'd picked Pidge and Lance to go- Pidge for her uncanny ability to hack and decrypt the information, and Lance for his lion's abilities that allowed her to safely travel underwater.

So they'd gone, severely unprepared for the trap that had been set. Blue carried them deeper and deeper into the sea until the glowing purple dome was in sight. The lion anchored herself into the sand while Pidge and Lance ejected themselves. They landed lightly on the exterior of the base, silently infiltrating the layers until they dropped into one of the hallways. Just like planned, they were only a single corridor away from the heart of the base. They'd known ahead of time that their timing would put them right between patrols; even so the silence was eerie. They slipped around the corner to see the control panel giving a soft glow on the area around it. Looming behind it was the massive engine, pulsing an ominous purple.

"Watch my back," Pidge directed briskly. Lance nodded, activating his bayard and scanning the dark passage behind them. Pidge's hands flew over the panel, and all Lance could hear was the clicking and the rapid beating of his own heart.

The silence was deafening.

Lance gulped nervously. "Hey, how's it-"

"Shush," Pidge interrupted. "I need to focus."

The blue paladin strained to hear anything, but there was nothing. He hesitantly turned back around to face his teammate. Maybe it was just his frayed nerves- none of Hunk's chattering, none of Shiro's commanding- but there was something unnerving about the engine that rested in the middle of the room. Lance didn't know much about machines in general, let alone the complex ways of Altean and Galran technology, but he felt that an engine for such a large base should have been louder. More active, somehow. Instead, the large contraption sat nearly silent in the center, not even a gentle hum.

At least, not until Pidge plugged in her flashdrive.

The device rumbled to life, the light glowing more intensely. A slight tremor traveled from the device and up Lance's spine. Pidge remained absorbed in her work, undeterred by the sudden change.

"Pidge," Lance nervously began.

"Lance, I'm trying to decrypt this information. Not now."

The mechanism's shaking increased, and the light began throbbing unsteadily.

"Pidge-"

"Not now, Lance!"

"Pidge!"

Pidge turned around just in time to be shoved to the ground by Lance. There was a bright explosion of light, then a deep booming of sound. Lance was taking the brunt of the violent explosion- worse, he was facing it directly. Lance could hear Pidge's screams mixed with his own agonized shrieks. Then it was muted, and intense pain overloaded his head. All he could do was watch as the ceiling began caving inward. Watch the shrapnel flying all around him, towards him, closer and closer to his fearfully widened eyes.

And then it hit him, and he couldn't see.

All he could do was feel the anguish as more and more metal embedded itself in him. He could feel Pidge cowering behind him- at least she was safe. He tried desperately (to no avail) not to think about how he could feel his eyes, or how is mouth tasted like blood and the room smelt of smoke, briefly throwing him back to the explosion at the castle. He could feel his body being shredded. Even though his hearing was shot he could hear the groaning and creaking around the room. One rational thought rose above the overload of pain.

The base is going to collapse.

Pidge could feel each painstaking jerk of Lance's body as more and more fragments lodged themselves in him. She must've been crying as she listened to his anguished screams, if the stinging wetness in her eyes was anything to go off of. She hated that she waited for the brunt of the explosion to die down before she stopped hiding. When it finally did, Lance was limp against her. She laid him down and looked at him- then she sobbed.

His face was a bloody mess, marred and cut by the explosion. His eyes- oh god, his eyes- she couldn't think about what that meant. Pidge felt bile rising in her throat.

Oh god, oh god, oh god.

She sobbed weakly as she tried to pick him up. When that didn't work, she dragged him, still weeping. She didn't know where she was taking him, just away from that room. The ceiling was groaning- that couldn't be good. She looked up just in time to see the structure caving inward before it collapsed entirely. Pidge didn't even scream, just hugged Lance tightly as the water came rapidly pouring in. Within seconds the base was filled. Pidge clung tightly to Lance as she tried hopelessly to hold her breath.

This was it. There was no way she could make it to the surface in time, especially not with Lance- and she wasn't going to leave Lance. Trembling, Pidge closed her eyes and became still.

Suddenly, she felt a cool metal surface against her. Her eyes flew open, and she saw Blue nudging her with her jaw wide open. Pidge desperately propelled herself towards the safety of the lion, dragging Lance's unconscious form behind her. Once she was in, the jaw closed and the water drained away. Pidge gasped for air, coughing up water. She could feel Blue warm up and speed towards the surface.

Pidge pushed a shaking hand to her coms. "Guys," she wheezed.

"Pidge! What happened?" Shiro's voice crackled.

"It was- I don't know! The engine just exploded and-" she choked on another sob. "Lance is hurt. Like, really bad."

Pidge heard soft gasps, then scrambling as the rest of the paladins tuned in.

"How bad is it? Is he okay?" Hunk asked.

"No, he's not." Pidge tried to keep her voice steady, but it was a losing battle. "He took the brunt of the explosion. He's bleeding a lot and his eyes are- his eyes are-"

Pidge broke down, sobbing against the blue paladin's chest. She could vaguely hear Keith angrily asking more questions and Shiro trying to calm her down, but she didn't care. How had she let this happen? How had she let her friend, her brother, become so badly injured? She hardly noticed as Blue stopped moving, only looking up from her weeping as Blue's jaw opened again. Shiro, Keith, Allura, and Hunk all came sprinting in, stopping short at the sight of Lance.

Allura put a hand over her mouth, tears building around her horrified eyes. Hunk whimpered before joining Pidge next to Lance. Shiro stayed stock still, his expression one of pure terror. Keith was trembling, and no one could tell if it was out of anger, terror, grief, or a combination of all three.

After a moment of mournful silence, Shiro cleared his head and stepped forward. After gently removing Pidge and Hunk from their friend, he carefully lifted Lance into his arms, avoiding looking at the multitude of injuries that littered his body, especially his eyes.

The others slowly picked themselves up and followed Shiro. They proceeded down to the medbay, where they wordlessly stripped Lance of his outer armor and placed him in a healing pod.

There, they huddled together and cried for Lance.